He has cooked for H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II, Mikhail Gorbachev and even Sharon Stone, but last week Stephan Pyles was cooking for us regular folk. Or, at least, those of us who were smart enough to sign up for his three-day course at the Stonington Beach Hotel.

Recognised as a founding father of southwestern cuisine, Chef Pyles has been credited by Bon Appetit magazine with "almost single-handedly changing the cooking scene in Texas''. The author of several cookbooks, he is also host to a syndicated PBS series, New Tastes From Texas, is a member of Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America, and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards including The James Beard Foundation's inaugural award for Best Chef in America-Southwest.

Smoked salmon-horseradish potatoes with grilled scallops, fried oyster tostada with andouille and saffron aioli, bone-in cowboy rib eye with pinto-wild mushroom ragout and red chile onion rings are only a mere sample of all that was cooked before, and presented to, those who attended his classes.

"I got a call from (general manager at the Stonington Beach) J.P. Horst, who used to be based in Dallas,'' he said, explaining how the courses came about.

"He said he wanted to start a resort course. There has been such an interest in them in America over the last few years. People have developed, in greater numbers, a real interest in food and wine. There are more festivals than you can count and they're absolute sellouts. He wanted to do something on that level here with a different chef perhaps, every year and I enjoy classes (like these).

"I'm typically of the lecture and demonstration style. It's more about the overall concept -- how things happen, why they happen. It's as much about the food experience as it is about learning how to cook. I don't like to teach professionals, I enjoy people who are really interested in gastronomy; people who are really interested in food and wine. People who want to talk about flavour profiles and how things go together. People who think of it as a luxury, as a passion. Not as a profession. Basically, I like to teach my clientele.'' His talents weren't always so obvious -- not to him anyway, despite the fact that all clues pointed in the same direction -- and he almost didn't train as a chef at all.

Chef Pyles was born into the restaurant industry. His family had a truck stop cafe in his hometown, Big Spring, Texas, and it was there he gained his first cooking experience working in the kitchen from the age of 12.

"I graduated from high school and went off to college where I received a Bachelor's degree in music,'' he said. "I had no intention of going into food. In the early 1970s there wasn't a lot of glamour or respect in being a chef. I graduated and took a trip to France as I'd never been.'' The trip proved to be the necessary turning point in Chef Pyles' life.

Initially, it was to last for one month; he stayed for six.

"I fell in love with the culture, the food, all of it,'' he explained. "I went back to the US and worked diligently (studying gastronomy) because I knew I wanted to be a chef. I studied at the Great Chefs of France cooking school at the Mondavi Winery and they brought in all the great chefs (to teach).

"And then, in the late 1970s, there was a rebirth of American cuisine. I went back to Texas where I knew I wanted to open a restaurant. The only problem was that my training was all French and I wanted to return to my roots. I wanted food that (was reminiscent of what was served in) Texas and Mexico but I wanted it to be refined and sophisticated.

"A lot of people tend to think (all food served in that area is) just Tex-Mex. Another misconception is that it's all very hot and just loaded with chilies....(and a lot of people) often assume Southwestern food is just barbecue and fried chicken and steak, and it's a lot more than that.

"When I got into food, it was through the French door. All the people (the founding fathers) doing Southwestern cuisine today were influenced by French techniques. We use real Mexican styles and ingredients but work with the French techniques. It's a cross between French and Mexican.'' In 1983 Chef Pyles opened Routh Street Cafe, and soon after, Baby Routh, both in Dallas. A multitude of accolades and awards followed including The AAA Five Diamond Award; Nation's Restaurant News' Fine Dining Hall of Fame Award; Restaurants and Institutions' Ivy Award; and the American Academy of Achievement Award.

"It was a period in food journalism in American where (journalists) were looking for the next trend. The press called it Southwestern cuisine, so I'm kind of known as the founding father of that. It was just great timing,'' he explained modestly.

Having successfully opened a string of restaurants during the 1980's, chef Pyles sold them and took a year off during which time, among other things, he wrote a cookbook.

"In 1994 I opened Star Canyon restaurant. It was pretty much a springboard.

Routh Street Cafe had a very refined setting. This one had a Texas cattle ranch setting with food to match. It really took the city and, I guess, the country by storm and was very successful.'' The restaurant, which featured Chef Pyles' New Texas Cuisine, offered recipes adapted from the many different cultures and historical eras of the Lone Star State. Among its many awards received from publications such as Bon Appetit, Esquire, Town & Country and Forbes, Star Canyon was named one of the top five new restaurants in America by the prestigious James Beard Awards and was called "Dallas' quintessential restaurant'' by Food & Wine magazine.

Chef Pyles followed this accomplishment with three more successful cookbooks and began hosting his well-received, 13-week cooking series, New Tastes from Texas, for PBS. In 1997 he returned to opening restaurants.

AquaKnox was met with much national and local critical acclaim, receiving five stars for its food from The Dallas Morning News, Dallas' best new restaurant of 1998 by Food & Wine magazine and a 4-star restaurant award from Mobil Travel Guide in February of last year.

"In 1998, I sold the restaurants to Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, which I think, is the biggest hospitality group in the world. They are the parent company of TGI Fridays and wanted to develop a portfolio of restaurants that was more creative. I developed two concepts for them an Asian one, Fish Bowl, and a Mexican, Taqueria Canyonita.'' A second Star Canyon and the new, Taqueria Canyonita opened in Las Vegas in May of 1999 at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, a $1.5 billion themed mega-resort and entertainment complex, inspired by the architecture and opulence of Italy's most romantic city.

November of that year saw the premiere of Fishbowl, a "sixties pan-Asian'' destination adjacent to AquaKnox.

According to his biography: "(Chef) Pyles developed a fun, affordable Asian Fusion menu that includes satays, noodle bowls and a variety of wok stir frys (`wok-chow'). (Chef) Pyles opened his second Taqueria Canyonita in August 2000 in Plano, Texas, a restaurant reminiscent of the authentic marketplaces of Mexico. The menu was designed to feature a `true taste of Mexico' with a New American ambience.'' Chef Pyles is the author of the best selling The New Texas Cuisine, Tamales and New Tastes From Texas, the companion cookbook to his PBS series of the same name. Now about to enter its third season, the show has aired in the top 100 markets in America. In August 2000, his most recent book, Southwestern Vegetarian, was published.

Outside of his work as a chef, restauranteur, author and television host, Chef Pyles has a strong humanitarian side. He was a founding board member of Share Our Strength (SOS), an international hunger relief organisation that is the largest in the United States, and he participates in charitable events worldwide.

In 1998, he was appointed a Lifetime Board Member of the North Texas Food Bank in recognition of his many contributions to the organization over the years.

For 12 years, he has served as chairman of Dallas' Taste of the Nation/SOS event that has raised more than $1,500,000 for local ministries and food pantries. He is also co-founder of The Hunger Link, Dallas' perishable food programme which links restaurants and hotels with shelters and other feeding programmes.

In October of last year, Chef Pyles sold his restaurants allowing time to satisfying his passion for travelling and researching, consulting for American Airlines, teaching, writing more cookbooks and working on his television shows.

"I'm now taking another year off,'' he said. "When I sold the restaurants to Carlson everything shifted. You can only put so much on your plate. I had to put all (of my outside interests on hold). I do lots of charitable work, I travel, I teach classes, I do the television show. Now I have time to focus on all these things.'' And always, he's on the lookout for another great place to launch his next restaurant, as he advised: "Perhaps this time, it'll be Mexixo City.''